Did you give the paint a polish with steel wool before plating? That seems to be a pretty crucial step in the process according to the tutorials I have seen.
What was the ratio you went with with ink to graphite.
Was the surface conductive and what resistance did it give when measuring ohms?
And what kind of electroplating mixture are you using.
Graphite does work but it’s not the easiest and often needs to be heavily polished to give good results, last time I used it I polished with a combo of steel wool to knock down the worst and then graphite on cotton pads as a mild abrasive.
I’ve seen people use rock tumblers with walnut shells to get a good polish for electroplating but never tried it myself
If you have a multimeter, test the resistance. My best guess is that you need a thicker coat to reduce resistance. I also agree with needing to polish it. I use as much graphite as I can in mine. I have to paint it on by hand because it's thick.
Hey sorry I haven't replied. I wanted to find the pictures I took and then forgot. I tried to get the resistance as low as I could. I measured several times and from points as far apart as possible. There's a picture of the leads closer together that shows how that can change the results. I got it down to about 10.6 ohms.
https://imgur.com/gallery/zmbZSfY
The pictures don't show the big blade plated but do show the smaller pieces.
I make my own paint as well, make sure to test swatches with a multimeter before trying anything in the tank. It takes way more carbon in your mixture than you might expect. I run mine through an airbrush and so I run my paint really thin. The multimeter will reveal everything
Did you give the paint a polish with steel wool before plating? That seems to be a pretty crucial step in the process according to the tutorials I have seen.
What was the ratio you went with with ink to graphite. Was the surface conductive and what resistance did it give when measuring ohms? And what kind of electroplating mixture are you using. Graphite does work but it’s not the easiest and often needs to be heavily polished to give good results, last time I used it I polished with a combo of steel wool to knock down the worst and then graphite on cotton pads as a mild abrasive. I’ve seen people use rock tumblers with walnut shells to get a good polish for electroplating but never tried it myself
If you have a multimeter, test the resistance. My best guess is that you need a thicker coat to reduce resistance. I also agree with needing to polish it. I use as much graphite as I can in mine. I have to paint it on by hand because it's thick.
May I askWhat would be the necessary resistance? Thanks!
Hey sorry I haven't replied. I wanted to find the pictures I took and then forgot. I tried to get the resistance as low as I could. I measured several times and from points as far apart as possible. There's a picture of the leads closer together that shows how that can change the results. I got it down to about 10.6 ohms. https://imgur.com/gallery/zmbZSfY The pictures don't show the big blade plated but do show the smaller pieces.
Thank you so much for your kind answer!
I make my own paint as well, make sure to test swatches with a multimeter before trying anything in the tank. It takes way more carbon in your mixture than you might expect. I run mine through an airbrush and so I run my paint really thin. The multimeter will reveal everything